2012年5月10日 星期四

square meal

square meal

n. A substantial, nourishing meal.

A
square meal

Meaning

A substantial, nourishing meal.

Origin

It is frequently repeated, by tour guides and
the like, that the expression 'a square meal' originated from the Royal Navy
practice of serving meals on square wooden plates. Such plates did exist so that
is a plausible story, but there's no other evidence to support it. In fact, the
lateness of the first printed record (see below) pretty well rules this out as a
credible theory. The Royal Navy's records and many thousands of ship's logs are
still available and, if the phrase came from that source, it would surely have
been recorded before the mid-19th century.This 'square plate' theory is one of the
best-known examples of folk-etymology. The phrase exists, the square plates
exist, and two and two make five. To be more precise, what we have here is a
back-formation. Someone hears the phrase 'square meal' and then invents a
plausible story to fit it.The word square has many meanings, including
'proper, honest, straightforward', and that's the meaning in 'square meal'. This
isn't a rectilinear meal on right-angled crockery, but a good and satisfying
meal.The phrase is of US origin. All the early
citations are from America, including this, the earliest print reference I have
found - an advertisement for the Hope and Neptune restaurant, in the California
newspaperThe Mountain
Democrat, November 1856:

"We can promise all who patronize us that
they can always get a hearty welcome and 'square meal' at the 'Hope and
Neptune. Oyster, chicken and game suppers prepared at short
notice."

William Brohaugh, in the usually reliable
'English Through the Ages', dates the saying as having entered the
language in 1840, although no supporting evidence is provided. There certainly
was a spate of coinages of 'food words' in the USA around that date. The terms
below all originated in the 1830s and 40s:

The use of 'square' to mean honest and
straightforward goes back to at least the 16th century; for example, in 1591, in
Robert Greene'sDefence of
Conny Catching:

"For feare of trouble I was fain to try my
good hap at square play."

Soon after that, Shakespeare used it inAnthony and Cleopatra,
1606:

"She's a most triumphant Lady, if report be
square to her."

Other phrases use the word with that same
meaning, for example, 'fair
and square', 'square play', square deal' etc. but these
haven't had spurious derivations invented for them. Coincidentally, another
phrase - the opposite of 'fair and square' - also has a false derivation
relating to plates in the Royal Navy. The story goes like this. The square
wooden plates that sailors received their food on had raised edges called
'fiddles'. If they took too much they were 'on the fiddle'. Perhaps 'story' is
being too kind; invention might be more accurate. The evidence for the
prosecution is:

- There is no record of the edges of sailors'
plates having any name, let alone a fiddle. No dictionary I can find lists
that meaning.- Despite
searching high and low, I've not been able to find any citation of the phrase
'on the fiddle' from before the 20th century, apart from those that clearly
mean 'playing the violin'. There are several old 'fiddle' phrases - 'fiddle
faddle', 'fiddling while Rome burns', 'second fiddle'
etc., but no 'on the fiddle'.

In support of the story there is - well,
nothing. It's never possible to prove a negative so, if you hear that derivation
from a tour guide and ask for evidence theymightjust provide it. Don't bet the mortgage
on it though; you're more likely to spot Elvis playing tiddlywinks with Lord
Lucan.See otherphrases and sayings from Shakespeare.See otherphrases that were coined in the USA.